PBS Station Sues Data Center Over 50TB Data Access Dispute

A PBS affiliate station, Nine PBS, has filed a lawsuit against Iron Mountain Data Centers to regain access to 50TB of irreplaceable data stored in a defunct cloud provider’s facility. The data includes decades of TV content, historical records, and pandemic coverage. After its original cloud provider, Open Source Storage (OSS), went out of business, Nine PBS alleges that Iron Mountain refused to release the data despite a court order. The lawsuit highlights challenges in retrieving data from decommissioned servers, with the station needing to find a third party within 30 days to recover files without corrupting other clients’ data. A judge mandated Iron Mountain to hand over physical storage devices but emphasized strict protocols to prevent data breaches. The case underscores risks of relying solely on cloud providers for critical archives, sparking debates about data sovereignty and backup practices in media organizations.